OLLI: Ayn Rand: Introduction to Philosophy – Philosophers (and others)

© Susan Fleck

	date	date	Name	Notes
1.	570	400	(BC) Pre-Socratics	Ontology: Ultimate nature of universe (one and the many)
2.	469	399	(BC) Socrates	Socratic Method: shifts focus to the human condition
3.	428	347	(BC) Plato	Perfect Forms: Good = Supreme Form; Evil-matter is source
4.	384	322	(BC) Aristotle	One world (no dual universe); Father of Science & Logic
5.	4^th c.	14^th c	Dark Ages (Medieval)
6.	354	430	St. Augustine of Hippo	Neo-platonist; Original Sin doctrine; tragic sense of life
7.	n/a	1090	Pope Gregory VII	Dictatus Papai: Church has final say on all matters, spiritual and secular
8.	1225	1274	St. Thomas Aquinas	Aristotelian; Double Truth Theory (reconcile Aristotle/Scripture)
9.	14^th c	16^th c	Renaissance, Reformation
10.	1304	1372	Francesco Petrarch	Father of Humanism: worth & dignity of the individual
11.	n/a	1450	Johannes Gutenberg	Movable Type Printing Press
12.	1389	1464	Cosimo de’Medici	set up Platonic Academy of Philosophy in Florence
13.	1433	1499	Marsilio Ficino	Academy leader; translated Plato into Latin; God made manifest to humans through Beauty
14.	1463	1494	Pico della Mirandola	Oration on the dignity of Man: no limits on individuals—one can descent to level of beasts or rise to status of higher being
15.	1483	1546	Martin Luther	Salvation from faith alone; 95 Theses; Protestant Reformation
16.	1509	1564	John Calvin	Organization of society: Calvinism, Huguenots, Presbyterians, Puritans
17.	1545	1648	Catholic Counter-Reformation	Series of actions to counter Protestant Reformation
18.	16^th c	18^th c	Scientific Revolution; Age of Enlightenment (Reason); Revolutions
19.	1473	1543	Nicholas Copernicus	Heliocentric: First to realize earth/planets revolve around Sun (Geocentric theory had dominated for about 1,500 years)
20.	1561	1626	Francis Bacon	Father of Empiricism; Baconian (scientific) method
21.	1564	1642	Galileo Galilei	Improves telescope; supports heliocentric theory; laws of nature are mathematical; house arrest by Church
22.	1571	1630	Johannes Kepler	Three Laws of planetary motion
23.	1642	1727	Isaac Newton	Law of Gravitation; 3 Laws of motion; proves Heliocentric
24.	1596	1650	René Descartes	Father of Modern Philosophy; Rationalist-deductive reasoning; as scientist, he was an Empiricist
25.	1588	1679	Thomas Hobbes	“Science” of human behavior; men are born selfish & depraved; Leviathan—man needs absolute ruler-protector
26.	1632	1704	John Locke	Empiricist; Political theories influential on U.S. Founding Fathers—Declaration of Independence
27.	1711	1776	David Hume	Problem of Induction: Skepticism (nature might stop being regular)
28.	1685	1753	George Berkeley	Father of Idealism: no material substance (only spirits and ideas of things)
29.	1700	1799	Philosophes (intellectuals)	Intellectual freedom; Improvement of humanity; Tolerance
30.	1694	1778	Voltaire	Wrote against monarchy, nobility, Church, religious intolerance, & injustice of the old order; Life is better with liberty—influential on U.S. Bill of Rights
31.	1712	1778	Jean Jacques Rousseau	Opposed radical individualism (early communism); General good of “the people” was deciding factor
32.	1713	1784	Denis Diderot	French Encyclopedia—spirit of Philosophes; 100 writers
33.	1723	1790	Adam Smith (Scottish)	Pioneer of political economy: Wealth of Nations—Classical economic theory (Capitalism)
34.	1706	1790	Benjamin Franklin	Polymath; “First American”; Ambassador to France; epitomized American ethos & Puritan virtues
35.	1737	1809	Thomas Paine	English-American political theorist, activist, revolutionary; Common Sense, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason
36.	1743	1826	Thomas Jefferson	Polymath; Man of Enlightenment; Champion human rights; Dec. of Independence; 3^rd U.S. President, and much more
37.	1775	1781	U.S. War for Independence	Declaration of Independence: Enlightenment Premises
38.	n/a	1787	U.S. Constitutional Convention	Two years later (1789): Bill of Rights (1^st 10 amendments)
39.	1789	1799	The French Revolution	Wanted results much like what U.S. formulated
40.	n/a	1799	Napoleon’s coup d’état	France had no direction; Napoleon filled vacuum—established religious toleration, abolition of feudalism, Code Civil—but became emperor
41.	1803	1815	Napoleonic Wars	Extreme scale, death, sickness, destruction and consequences for all of Europe
42.		19^th c	Industrial Revolution
43.	1861	1865	U.S. Civil War	End of Confederacy & institution of Slavery; Strengthened role of federal government
44.	n/a	19^th c	American Expansion	Manifest Destiny
45.	18^th c	19^th c	Philosophy
46.	1724	1804	Immanuel Kant	Transcendental Idealism; goal—philosophy to be bridge between Science and Religion; noumena/phenomena dichotomy; Central figure in modern philosophy; DUTY
47.	1803	1882	Ralph Waldo Emerson	American Transcendentalism; spiritual state realized through intuition transcends the physical and empirical; union of humanity with nature
48.	1770	1831	George Friedrich Hegel	Idealism: Absolute Spirit—Universal Mind, through history seeks to arrive at highest level of self-awareness & freedom
49.	1818	1883	Karl Marx	Communist Manifesto—Historical Dialectical Materialism—communism will come via stages of history
50.	1821	1894	Hermann von Helmholz	Theories on conservation of energy; total amount in a system is constant; mechanics, heat, light, electricity, magnetism—manifestations of a single force (energy)
51.	1809	1882	Charles Darwin	Evolution: On the Origin of Species & The Descent of Man: Puts evolutionary mechanism in place of telos (end purpose)
52.	1844	1900	Friedrich Nietzsche	Influenced heavily by Darwin: “The total nature of the world is . . . to all eternity Chaos;” Man was in touch with no ‘beyond,’ and was no different from other creatures. Autonomous “highest type of man” with “will to power.”
53.	1856	1939	Sigmund Freud	Influenced by Helmholz: mind as complex energy system: Three-way split. Theory of unconscious-highly deterministic

54.	---	---	20^th Century
55.	1914	1919	World War One
56.	1917	for-ward	Communist Revolution	Russia: Lenin & Bolshevicks seize power; dictatorship of Proletariats; Soviet bureaucracy; Stalin’s reign of terror
57.	early	20^th c	avant garde	Arts as experimental, innovative, pushing boundaries of what is accepted as the norm; e.g. Dada “anti” Art movement
58.	1^st half	20^th c	Progressivism in U.S.	Social activism and reform; apply scientific methods to gov’t, industry, finance, medicine, education, etc. Far-reaching gov’t expansions—progress beyond old-fashioned ways. Followed changes in Western European policies
59.	1901	1908	Theodore Roosevelt (26^th President)	Tried moving Republican party to Progressivism; Trust Busting; “Square Deal”
60.	1913	1920	Woodrow Wilson (28^th President)	Fed. Reserve; Fed. Trade Commission; Antitrust Act; Farm Loan Act; Revenue Act (progressive income tax)
61.	1933	1945	Franklin Delano Roosevelt (32^nd President)	(Too many items to list in this chart—see presentation)
62.	1879	1955	Albert Einstein	Theory of Relativity—Space & Time not ‘fixed’
63.		1945	World War Two aftermath	Tens of millions dead; Holocaust; Europe and Asia decimated; spread of Communism; Cold War; Space Race; Korean War; Vietnam War; 60s movements—peace, environment, women’s
64.		20^th c	Philosophy	Existentialism: Authenticity—no meaning in the world beyond what we give to it. Logical Positivism: Truths of logic, mathematics, and verifiable scientific empirical claims make up ENTIRE universe of meaningful judgments. Pragmatism: hypotheses must be clarified by tracing their ‘practical consequences.’ Neopragmatism: focuses on the relation between language and the rest of the world—versus between experience and the natural world. Postmodernism: Reaction to the Age of Reason’s optimism regarding solving human problems
65.	1905	1982	Ayn Rand	Objectivism: What the rest of the course is about!